Roundup: A warning of finite federal resources

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Apparently spooked by the new modelling numbers showing daily infection counts in the range of 6,500 by mid-December, and the fact that he got caught out ignoring public health advice in favour of uncontrolled spread, Doug Ford announced that they were re-jigging their advisory system to a much more reasonable number to trigger “code red” states. You’d think this was good news, but “code red” still means you can eat out at restaurants and go to bars, and aren’t really in any kind of serious lockdown state, so it looks like a lot of show, and more excuses to not inconvenience business owners while case counts grow exponentially and hospitalisations and deaths mount.

Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau is sounding a bit more impatient with premiers, reminding them that their resources aren’t infinite and that there is still a chance to save Christmas if we all act now (but probably not). And while certain voices sounded incredulous that a government that has shovelled money out the door at an unprecedented rate doesn’t have infinite resources, we’re not talking about money – we’re talking about personnel from the Red Cross and Canadian Forces if absolutely necessary to step into hospitals and long-term care facilities, and one imagines it also means physical resources like PPE. You can’t simply buy capacity or trained staff – it doesn’t come off the shelf, and people should realise this. And to that end, Trudeau also warned that if they reach the threshold beyond which they have capacity, then difficult choices are going to need to be made about the allocation of those resources.

And if the calls for the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act wasn’t bad enough (it’s not going to happen), we’re not getting calls for Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health to resign because Ford won’t take advice and he won’t visibly push back against Ford’s blundering – even though his options as an advisor would be limited, and he may not feel he’s at the ethical line of requiring a public resignation just yet. And even further down that path was a piece in Maclean’s (which I’m not linking to) that called on these provincial health officers to assert authority and start making orders, which is a dangerous path to tread down. Why? Because this isn’t a technocracy. In a democracy, advisors advise, and elected politicians decide. Dr. Howard Njoo, the deputy federal chief public health officer, made this exact point yesterday – that they give their best advice to their political masters, and it’s up to those masters to make the final decision, which Ford, Kenney and company are certainly doing. We don’t want politicians to hide behind their advisors by blurring that line of accountability, and we don’t want unaccountable advisors to be making the decisions exactly because we can’t hold them to account at the ballot box. We also need to remember that “listen to the science” isn’t actually public policy. Science can provide guidance, but policy is about implementation, which the science cannot always dictate. Nevertheless, we need to stop blaming Ford’s public health officer and blame Ford himself (along with Kenney, Moe, Pallister, Legault, et al.) They are where the responsibility and the accountability lies, and where the pressure for them to actually take this pandemic seriously needs to be centred.

https://twitter.com/LagassePhilippe/status/1327380638106849283

Good reads:

  • The federal government could be tabling their new climate change accountability legislation as early as next week.
  • Marco Mendicino says that the change in administration in the US remains an opportunity for Canada’s immigration system.
  • Kevin Carmichael ponders the potential for a currency war as part of the ongoing economic slump and how that might affect the recovery.
  • Heather Scoffield points to business ingenuity helping some firms getting by the pandemic, but calls on certain governments to be more flexible with supports.

Odds and ends:

Colby Cosh offers a look back at the history of film censorship in Ontario, as Doug Ford seeks to axe the province’s Film Review Board.

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3 thoughts on “Roundup: A warning of finite federal resources”

  1. Good Post. We will see a continuation of blame against Trudeau as this pandemic deepens. The feds {Trudeau} dole out the money but idiots administrate it. In a crisis that is too bad. As we learn all the time folks can change things …Vote.

  2. This would be like blaming Fauci for Trump’s science denial and willful intransigence. Even on the basis of a personal doctor/patient relationship, the doctor can only make recommendations. If the patient doesn’t follow them, that’s not malpractice on the physician’s part. “The resistance” as Maclean’s so foolishly lauded them will either have to step up to the plate or face the wrath of voters for the deaths of their loved ones. Lesson number 1 of this pandemic? Never vote Conservative, at any level of government. It’s literally hazardous to your health.

  3. “We don’t want politicians to hide behind their advisors by blurring that line of accountability, and we don’t want unaccountable advisors to be making the decisions exactly because we can’t hold them to account at the ballot box.”

    The two major points in the article by Professors Attaran and Hardcastle that you are afraid to link to are these: (1) That too many provincial politicians are either ignoring or acting against the advice of public health officials and (2) that provincial and local medical health officers are not using the full scope of their powers to curb SARS-CoV-2 and limit severe illness, death, and other consequences of the spread of COVID-19.

    Both of these assertions are undeniably true.

    The result of ignoring the professors’ second point could very well be that there will be a lot fewer voters around to hold politicians “to account at the ballot box.” Some folks might see this as the greater evil.

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